Katayama Sen

Sen Katayama (片山 潜 Katayama Sen, December 26, 1859 - November 5, 1933), born Yabuki Sugataro (藪木 菅太郎 Yabuki Sugatarō), was an early member of the American Communist Party and co-founder, in 1922, of the Japan Communist Party. After 1884, he spent most of his life abroad, especially in the United States and the Soviet Union, where he was very active in the international socialist community, and after 1920 the communist community. Katayama had a weak base inside Japan, and was little known there. However, in the rest of the world, he was widely hailed as a leading spokesman for the Japanese socialist and communist movements.

Sugataro Yabuki was the second son born to Kunizo and Kichi Yabuki in 1859 in the Hadeki district of what would later become Japan's Okayama prefecture. He was adopted by the Katayama family at nineteen and adopted the name Sen Katayama, becoming the Katayama's "first son," after his birth mother was deserted by her husband. The adoption avoided Katayama's conscription and allowed him to continue his education. In his autobiography, Jiden (自伝), Katayama admitted that he was fortunate not to have been the first born in his birth family, as it saved him from some of the responsibilities that burdened some of his acquaintances.

In 1878 Katayama travelled to Tokyo to apprentice as a printer while he studied at a small preparatory school, the Oka Juku, where he formed a friendship with Iwasaki Seikichi (岩崎清吉^?), nephew of one of the founders of Mitsubishi. Iwasaki's departure for Yale University inspired Katayama to work his way to the United States. Katayama attended Grinnell College, from which he graduated in 1892, proceeding to the Andover Theological Seminary and then to Yale Divinity School. During this period Katayama became a Christian and a socialist. Before attending Grinnell, Katayama attended Maryville College.

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